Posts Tagged ‘Digital Art’

Orbital Decay is a work of algorithmic art I created last night and is 25 by 25 inches when printed at 300ppi (pixels per inch). To create this art I used an interactive algorithmic art program I finished writing yesterday. Traditionally algorithmic art was defined as art created by a largely deterministic, algorithmic process using parameters to control the process. Complicating the matter of categorization has been the introduction of that category of digital art known as generative art – which has substantial overlap with the algorithmic art category with respect to how the art is created from a computational perspective. In fact it has been argued that algorithmic art is a subset of generative art – even though the former precedes the later. Wikipedia has this to say on the subject:

Algorithmic art, also known as computer-generated art, is a subset of generative art (generated by an autonomous system) and is related to systems art (influenced by systems theory). Fractal art is an example of algorithmic art. Source: Wikipedia entry for algorithmic art

Why Algorithmic and not Generative?

So why have I categorized Orbital Decay as a work of interactive algorithmic art and not as a work of generative art? That’s a good question because this work does qualify as a work of generative art. However as I am the artist I get to decide what I want to call it – although I could argue that to label this art as generative would be equally appropriate.

You will note I have added the qualifier interactive to the algorithmic label. I did this because the creation of this artwork did require direct interaction from me. Unlike traditional algorithmic art programs which can be driven entirely by parameters and parametric settings (an autonomous system), this program as written could not create anything without the artist’s direct input throughout the creation process.

Orbital Decay is available as wall art and as illustration on a variety of products offered by Redbubble. Clicking either the link button or the image below will take you to the Orbital Decay Redbubble product page.

The mind works in strange ways, making leaps from one thought to another. That chain can take you to some pretty strange places.

In this case I was watching a movie from the 30’s on Turner Classic Movies (I confess to being fond of movies from the 30’s). The scene is a car driving along a road in the American southwest. A little while later in the movie one of the characters is getting a shave from his girlfriend. Some hours later thinking back on the movie, Burma Shave popped into my head. I headed for the nearest search engine to see if I could find some of those Burma Shave jingles online. Sure enough, I found plenty – in fact an entire web site devoted to them at burma-shave.org.

The following is the jingle from 1947 that I was reading when I made my creative leap.

Now how that led me to segue to thinking about making jingles for digital art is a mystery, but I think it was the reference to soggy brushes. Perhaps my previous experience writing computer programs to create lullian poetry (an example on this web site is The Art of Lullian Poetry) had something to do with it. Perhaps it was because of a period of time when I was writing limericks. Anyway I set myself the task of writing some Burma Shave style jingles that reference digital art. In fairly short order I came up with the following spin-off sticking with the soggy brushes opening:

No soggy brushes
To mess your house
Instead just
use your
laser mouse
Digital Art

Firing up Photoshop, I put together the graphic that illustrates this post. While the Burma Shave jingles/poems used one roadside sign per line of prose, that approach just doesn’t work well on the Internet so I collapsed everything down to a single image.

Once again I’ll be attending the Windycon Science Fiction Convention, which is this coming weekend. My schedule is light this year: three panels and no presentations. That means I’ll have abundant time to attend other programming – although in the past my luck has been such that the programming I most want to see is at the same time as one of the programs I’m participating in.

Here is my programming schedule for Windycon.

Title:

Digital Art: The Art for Everyone

Description:

Can’t afford a Rembrandt? Don’t have room for the Moore? Well, if you have room for a computer or a laptop, you’ve got art. Art that doesn’t really physically exist (yet). Art galleries everyone with wi-fi can access. Democratic art in a way fine art never was and never will be. Hear our panelists discuss the pros and cons of art for everyone all the time.

This should be a most interesting panel. Computer technologies have done more to democratize art than any other technology. This extends not just to the ability to share finished works of art but also to greatly expanding the number of people involved in the creation of art. And for those people, like myself, who write their own art-creating programs, there is the ability to share source code so that what one digital artist creates can be shared with others who can then modify that art and so on down through successive generations.
With respect to the pros of digital art, they are abundant and I’m sure we’ll spend much time discussing them. As to the cons, they are few and do not detract from the value of the computer as a tool for the creation of art.

Title:

Colonizing Space

Description:

Will space travel ever be safe enough and cheap enough to really colonize other planets? Can a moon or Mars colony really work? Will space colonization be government sponsored or private citizens? What happens if we can’t leave Earth?

Here are my first thought answers to the questions asked.Will space travel ever be safe enough and cheap enough? Yes – if the space industry is allowed to develop and if the natural economic incentives are allowed to operate.Can a moon or Mars colony really work? Yes – again given the right operating environment and economic incentives.Will space colonization be government sponsored or private citizens? The only way for space colonization to have a chance of really working is if it is freely undertaken by private citizens employing Adam Smith’s invisible hand.
And what happens if we are forever bound to the surface of the Earth? Then I fear that as a species we will one day go the way of the dinosaurs.

Title:

The Future of Private Space Exploration

Description:

Now that NASA is out of the space business private developers are stepping in. Can private space exploration really give us the future sf predicts? How can we help get there?

I haven’t yet checked on what other programming Windycon is offering that I may have an interest in attending but if you stop by the Windycon Art Show be sure to check out my art as I will have several pieces in the show.

I am quite looking forward to next week’s Capricon Science Fiction Convention. The theme for this year’s convention is artificial intelligence, which is an area of computer science that I find fascinating. One aspect of artificial intelligence that interests me is the thought of AIs as the creators of art and music. This would represent a significant advance over today’s generative art approach.

Before getting into a discussion of the panels I hope to attend, I’d like to call attention to the panels I will be on.

Riverworlds: The Latest on Mars and Titan

A panel that I’ll be moderating on the finding of features on Mars and Titan that appear to have been produced by fluvial processes. My copanelists will be a pair of friend of mine: Bill Higgins and Jeffrey Liss.

I Shouldn’t Have Blogged That

Sometimes we speak without thinking – which is bad enough but then your only audience is those folks who are within earshot. But with blogging and social media – we all have the opportunity to look like fools to a huge number of family, friends, and strangers alike. Along with Tracy Lunquist, the panel’s moderator, Kathryn Sullivan and I will talk about how to minimize your risks and how to do damage control.

In addition to participating on two panels, the folks at Capricon graciously offered me the opportunity to do a presentation on my digital art.
The title they picked for my presentation is The Art of Jim Plaxco and has the following description:

Explore the visual possibilities of digital art which uses a variety of techniques using computer graphics software, hardware, and both film and digital photography.

I do like that description because my intent is to focus on what it means to work digitally. I’ll cover hardware, software, work flow, and methodologies and will use some of my own art as examples.

As to the panels I hope to attend, those would be:

AI and the CDC

How the Center for Disease Control is using artificial intelligence.

AI Vision: Early AI vs. Current Technology

A historical overview of human imaginings about AI.

AI’s Impact on Religion and Religion’s Impact on AI

The impact of artificial intelligence on religion and the impact of religion on artificial intelligence.

Boundaries Between Science and Pseudoscience

As a skeptic and proponent of fact-based decision making, this could be quite interesting.

Curiosity on Mars Slideshow

A presentation by my friend and fellow JPL Solar System Ambassador Bill Higgins on the Curiosity rover and what it has uncovered on Mars. Note that Curiosity won the 2012 Crunchie For Best Technology Achievement.

Cylons, Cyberman, and Borg, OH MY! AI Destroys!

Ah yes, the dark side of hi tech.

Do AIs Have Rights?

Perhaps a more interesting question is should all AIs be treated equally?

Dystopias and Why We Love Them

I’ve been on a couple of dystopia panels before and wish I had gotten on this one. It’s a topic that has always fascinated me.

Is Google Making Us Stupid? To the Internet! [Is Google Making Us Stupid?]

I guess I better Google this before providing an answer.

It’s All in the Presentation

A panel for artists that discusses various aspects of the art biz.

NASA/JPL Saturn Mission Lecture

A very cool presentation (I’ve seen earlier versions of it) by friend and fellow JPL Solar System Ambassador John Vittallo about the Cassini mission to Saturn.

Non-Traditional Publishing Options

A look at publishing Ebooks, self-publishing, Amazon, etc.

When Does a Computer Become a Robot?

I would think the answer to this is obvious: when it sprouts arms and legs and is able to fetch.

Writing Nonfiction

A panel for folks who are interested in writing nonfiction.

I’ve listed a lot of panels here but have not checked the program schedule for time conflicts and given my luck I’ll probably actually make less than half of them. I also hope to attend at least some of the convention’s art auction on Saturday night. I still have to decide on whether or not I am going to participate in the convention’s art show.

Part 1: The Capricon Science Fiction Convention

This year Capricon was a short affair for me. While the con ran Thursday thru Sunday, I only attended Friday and Saturday and then only until 6:30pm as I had made plans to attend the opening of a photo exhibition at the Prairie Arts Center in Schaumburg. And because I was not returning on Sunday I did not participate in the art show. On Saturday I did make sure to go through the art show and was happy to see work exhibited by a couple of my friends. What I found disturbing though was the fairly large number of empty display bays in the show. In my experience the Capricon Art Show generally has little, if any, unused space. Unfortunately I had to leave before the start of the art auction so have no idea how well that went.

With respect to programming, my only job Friday was as a panelist on Pluto Is Still a Planet in Illinois with Bill Higgins (Fermilab physicist) moderating and copanelists Brother Guy Consolmagno (Vatican Observatory) and Steven Silver (Capricon Fan Guest of Honor). This was a really good panel given that Brother Guy was a part of the IAU meeting at which the Pluto vote was made and Steven was a friend of Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered Pluto. If you were at Capricon and missed this panel – it was definitely your loss.

I arrived back at the con Saturday morning shortly before I was scheduled to give my presentation The Art of the Exploration of Space. I especially liked that I had 75 minutes to speak as this allowed me to go at a leisurely pace and engage in conversation with the audience as I went along. This was immediately followed by my moderating a panel at the opposite end of the convention on Goodbye, Space Shuttle. My copanelists were Henry Spencer, Chris Gerrib, and Kent Nebergall. Kent had the misfortune of being in the audience of my space art presentation whereupon I drafted him for the Space Shuttle panel as I knew that he would have valuable insights to contribute.

I next attended The Coming War on General Purpose Computation presentation by Cory Doctorow, the author guest of honor. It was a fascinating presentation. While I agreed with Doctorow on SOPA and other aspects of attempts to stamp out the theft of intellectual property, I came away dissatisfied that he offered no remedy for the authors, artists, and musicians who are having their work stolen. I was also somewhat surprised by his stance towards Facebook in that he seemed to believe that people should not be given the choice of sharing their information on social networks. I viewed this as being inconsistent with what I would characterize as a free and open internet perspective.

The last panel I attended was the most boring panel I have ever attended at any science fiction convention. Now with a title like Civil Disobedience: Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party Movement you would expect there to be an invigorating debate between the panelists and between the panelists and the audience. However, this panel was run by the brown shirts. No audience participation was allowed. There was a short period at the end where 5 people were identified and allowed to ask one question each with no follow up or commentary by the questioners permitted. In short, this panel was a total waste of time for the audience.

In summary, I’d say that the best things about Capricon were:

The accidental meetings

The conversations in the halls

The food in the green room

Prowling the Dealers Room

Checking out the art show

How well my The Art of the Exploration of Space presentation went and the ensuing conversations

Being on the Pluto panel with Brother Guy Consolmagno, Bill, and Steven

Part 2: The Photography Exhibition at the Prairie Art Center, Schaumburg IL

Departing Capricon, I swung by home to grab a bite to eat and then headed over to the Prairie Art Center to take in a photography exhibition that was opening that night in the Herb Aigner Gallery. Titled Flowers in Our Soul, the show is devoted to artistic photographs of flowers and consists of 27 separate works. The photographers that I identified as having work on display in the show are Maria Aiello, Mary Angelini, Debbie Beller, Cindy Brumm, Susan Couch, Randee Lawrence, and Karie Strangeway. I had the opportunity to speak with several of them about their work. I was also curious to learn whether they printed their own work or used an outside service. If you would like to see the show, it runs through the end of February. See Prairie Center for the Arts, Schaumburg IL.

The Illustration

To illustrate this post I decided to use a piece of science fiction art that I just added to my web site. Titled The Flyers of Fomalhaut b, it is an imagining of what the life of exoplanet Fomalhaut b is like (note: not only is there no evidence of life on this planet, there is some question as to whether or not the planet even exists). Fomalhaut b appears to be a Jupiter-like planet that is about three times more massive than Jupiter and which orbits the star Fomalhaut once every 872 years. By comparison Pluto takes 248 years to complete an orbit of the Sun.

Yesterday was the grand opening of the Adobe Museum of Digital Media and I was looking forward to my visit to this virtual museum of digital art. Arriving at the site – Adobe Museum of Digital Media – I found myself waiting for the museum to open in my browser. Unfortunately Adobe decided to implement their virtual museum as a completely Flash web site and that Flash file is really, really big. Even with my top of the line broadband internet connection, I had to wait some 45 seconds for the museum to open. A few browser reloads gave times in the 40-45 second range.

The museum opens with a city fly-around that focuses on the virtual museum building itself. This virtual building, a large white stylish futuristic looking building quite at odds with the surrounding cityscape, was designed by Italian Filippo Innocenti, an associate architect at Zaha Hadid Architect.

Adobe Museum ofDigital MediaVirtual Building

Upon completion of the fly-around the visitor is presented with three navigation options. One of these options is to see a message from the museum’s curator Tom Eccles, executive director and faculty member of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. The message is a brief introduction to the museum and the concept.

The second navigation option is to take a building tour. One of the sub-options, AMDM Cityscape allows you to replay the opening video. A second sub-option is Making the Impossible which opens a video describing the creation of the Adobe Museum of Digital Media with emphasis on the design of the virtual building that is meant to represent the museum.

The third navigation option is for the current exhibit. In terms of the actual art content, the current (and first and only) exhibit is Valley by Tony Oursler. I did not visit much of the exhibit because I did not find it to be particularly accessible from a user perspective.

There is also an option on various sub-pages to become a member by providing your email address and creating a user name. I joined as I am curious to observe how Adobe’s virtual museum evolves.

And Now – The Art Museum Review

My visit to the Adobe Museum of Digital Media was a disappointment. Not only does the initial page take an overly long time to load, but it also takes just as long for many of the sub-pages to load. In short, the site has a terrible time-to-content ratio – in fact the worst that I have ever experienced. Nor was I thrilled that the museum wound up kicking my laptop cooling fan into overdrive.

As to site navigation, at times it was not intuitively obvious where to click or where that click would take you. The flying eyeball that serves as your museum guide between the base pages was cool but only slowed things down more.

In conclusion, it looks like Adobe’s principal goal is to show off the virtual building they created to host the museum and to show off Flash’s visual capabilities. I think the public would have been better served if Adobe had concentrated on offering visitors a user friendly format in which to view digital art and to provide informative content in support of that art.